One Jump Ahead Of Myself
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Cleo didn't expect wishing upon a star to work. But she didn't expect to fall for a street boy, especially not the one who is in love with a princess. But then, she's still got a wish or two to spare...Aladdin/Jasmine, with one sided OC/Aladdin. Not the usual OC/Genie, so please give it a try! Please, a few reviews?
1. Prologue: Wishing Star

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, another "OC falls into Aladdin" story. Well, I've been tossing the idea around (By the way, the "Don't Rub The Lamp!" series by Midnight Gypsie is the best of the ones I've seen, so you should go read that next) and since the viewers of the Nostalgia Chick voted Aladdin as the hottest animated guy, how could I resist?**

**Summary: Cleo is a bored orphan girl. She never expected that wishing upon a star would do anything, but even if it had, she'd never imagine becoming a street girl in the Arabian desert and falling for a street boy. How can you tell a boy you love him, when you want to help him charm his true princess?**

**Disclaimer: Walt Disney Studios owns the movies and characters. Jessie J owns "Price Tag". Emilie Autumn owns "Fight Like A Girl." And finally, Warner Bros owns the wishing star song, which I took from the direct-to-video feature "Wakko's Wish".**

**Now, that's done. On to the story!**

I can't really remember my parents. They died when I was three, and I was left, stuck in a children's home. remembered a few voices, but not much else. I never cried, though. I sort of miss my parents, even now, but I got accustommed to not having them with me since I didn't have proper self-awareness at the time they died.

OK, on to the Home. It was never like those orphanages you read about in books – like that hypnotist orphan girl kids' story. The carers were kind, the social workers tried to understand problems, and the other kids were usually OK. It was like Sedgemoor with younger kids, that place where you got to live in a regular house with carers, except that it was teeming with toddlers, elementary-age kids, and preteens as well as teenagers.

I never really had any close friends. I hung out with some of the girls my age (I'm sixteen, seventeen next month), but I was isolated right from the beginning, because of my name. It's Cleo Sparks. Yeah, I'm sure you're laughing. It doesn't even sound like a real name – people are always calling me "magazine girl" because of the mag, or "cat girl" because of the book about the cat called Cleo. Sometimes people call me "Queen" because it's an abbreviation of Cleopatra. I've always hated it.

There was this one memory that seemed to stick. It was some movie, animated, I think. It was definitely in the Home, though. I must've just come. For as long as I can remember, the Home had movie nights every Saturday. No one had to join in, but most of the time, everyone did. Anyway, a lot of the time, it was Disney movies, from _Snow White _(tedious, and Snow had the most annoying voice), to _Treasure Planet _(what was Disney even thinking?). _Tangled _was OK, but I wasn't so interested, since I was fifteen by the time it came out. Likewise, _The Princess and The Frog _had a few good things, like the villain song, but I was getting way too old for Disney. But this memory of a Disney movie they'd only shown once or twice was stuck in my mind. I only remembered one or two things, which were fuzzy, and I longed to see just that one movie again, just so I could work out where they came from. I remembered some song – just one lyric: "_I can open your eye_s" and a girl with dark hair wearing hareem pants. That was virtually all I remembered, and I couldn't help wishing I could just be able to see it. But I think the Home lost that DVD or VCR, because I never saw those images or heard that song lyric again.

I couldn't wait until I was eighteen, then I'd be out of the Home and then I could do a lot more. I was simply ecstatic at the idea of being out on my own in the world. In the Home, there was no freedom, and without friends, I was pretty much a social outcast. I never got to go to any parties, I didn't get a chance to try alcohol or anything, and I didn't have a clue on what kind of makeup colours suited me. I usually tried for dark lipgloss, and then I knew I couldn't go wrong with mascara or eyeliner, provided I put the right amount on (but of course, I had to put it on after we left the Home, because they'd never let a girl walk into school while violating the no-makeup rule). As a result, I was a social failure, with no friends, no boyfriend, and no life.

But anyway, let me tell you what happened that strange day when I was catapulted out of this sucky life (you don't think it is? Try it) and into a life that was, for some time, much worse. Oh yeah, and I experienced heartbreak.

It was a movie night, as usual on Saturday. I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I decided to go see what movie they were showing, just to see if it was worth it. They had decided to show _The Rescuers, _a tedious film about a duo of mice who try to rescue a kidnapped orphan girl called Penny. No, it was not worth it, so I walked off – I mean, I might've stayed if they showed _The Aristocats, _simply because I liked the song "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" and I just thought O'Malley was kind of funny, especially when he was shamelessly flirting with Duchess and then realized she had a daughter and two sons.

But, point aside, they were showing _The Boring Rescuers _so the little kids could understand what was going on, so I went back to the room I shared with Tracy and Gemma (though neither of them were there at that moment), and switched on my MP3 (I'd prefer an iPod shuffle but I have to take what I get) , listening to _Price Tag, _and then giving a chance to some music Trace had insisted on loading to my player. The songs were called "Girls! Girls! Girls!" and "Fight Like A Girl." I listened to the latter first.

"_There is no such thing as justice," _sang the very depressed-sounding alto singer,_ "All the best that we can hope for is revenge_

_A hostile takeover, an absolute rebellion to the end_

_This is our battle cry_

_I'm giving you a headstart,_

_You're going to need it, cause I fight like a girl."_

This got me thinking. If this singer's definition of "fight like a girl" was such a positive one, then I definitely needed to fight like a girl. But how could I do that in Kid Central?

I heard the Disney logo music playing from downstairs, and on impulse, I looked out of the window to see the winter sky littered with stars. So if fate was asking me to wish upon a star, why shouldn't I? After all, "_When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are_

_Anything your heart desires will come to you."_

I looked up at the star that called to me. It was a little dim. If it was a person, it would be the drab social failure like me, so it drew me in.

I sang the song I remembered from an old Warner Brothers film, giggling. "_Twinkle, twinkle, wishing star, how I wonder where you are,_

_Out in space so bright and clear, can you see me way down here?_

_Let me pick the star that's right and pick the wishing star tonight._

_Like finding a needle in a haystack, enney meeney miney mo and Jack_

_Wishing star, please hear my plea, grant one wish, one wish for me."_

I smiled. "No Desire Fulfillment Facilitator for me. I wish I had some friends, something to fight for, a life."

I never wished to fall in love. Or to get another wish. I guess that the wishing star didn't hear me right. But it seemed to hear me. I didn't expect a response, but boy did I get one.

The star began to glow brighter, and suddenly, it nearly blinded me. I couldn't stand the blazing light and closed my eyes. Then I felt a sense of tumbling as the ground beneath me disappeared. I pressed my lips together, trying hard not to scream.

Before I hit the ground, I lost consciousness.

**Well, there you go. That's Cleo. Please, please, PLEASE review? Cookies for all who do!**


	2. Chapter 1: Street Kid

**Here's the next chapter! Thanks for your review, rollingbell and Xx Rebel Writer xX!**

**Oh, and before I forget, some people called Cleo "cat girl" due to a book. The book "Cleo: How a Small Black Cat Helped Heal A Family" is owned by Helen Brown, not me, and it is a truly wonderful true story, as is the sequel, "Cats and Daughters".**

The first thing I noticed was the heat. It was too warm. The second thing was the fact that I was most definitely outdoors, since there was a light breeze. I opened my eyes, groaning.

"What the-" I shot to my feet, staring around. I didn't know anything about where I was. The sky was clear and blue, unlike the often cloudy city I lived in. On looking around, I seemed to be in a dark alleyway, with tall crumbling clay buildings, peach coloured. There were no cars, but there was a marketplace, full of stalls with pushy traders yelling out to passers-by. Much further up, there was a huge bronze palace.

I instinctively looked down when I realized that I was barefoot, and got the shock of my life. I was wearing patched hareem pants in a plain creamy colour, although it was grey with dust. My (also patched) navy top had loose sleeves and was a bit floaty, and in these circumstances, was only lucky that it didn't show anything. I found that in the pocket of my pants, there was a knife.

"OK," I muttered under my breath, "Anything else weird that happens can be explained by the star freak-out. I did _not _ask to be sent to a new world. Do I have anything to fight for here? I still have no life and no friends."

I scanned the marketplace again. Everything seemed kind of Asian-European, like Turkey or something, except everything was spoken in English. I also noticed the customers in the market, all dressed with turbans, veils. One or two men wore a fez. The clothes were all plain.

"_Hmmm...not modern day." _I mused. "_Too traditional. It looks like Arabia before the middle ages."_

I searched my brain for the very little I knew about the time period or place. I remembered that crimes were punished very severely – they cut off your hand if you were caught stealing. And considering, there did seem to be a few people who were wearing patched or beggar-type clothing. They all seemed to be street kids, sometimes older. Although, I wasn't sure how I knew some of this. It seemed to be instinctual, as if I'd been here before, or something along those lines.

I knew that this would be a hard life. I was on my own, with no money, no knowledge, nothing. And as an orphan, that made me homeless. I was a street girl.

I wondered what to do, watching from inside the alley. Stealing and scavenging was the only thing I could do to survive, and right now, the former was looking more and more appealing. But what if I got caught? I wasn't interested in losing a hand. So what could I -

"Stop, thief!" I was broken from my thoughts as men with swords ran past.

"_Guards instead of the police." _I theorized. That was scary. I peeked out to see who they were chasing.

Just as I thought this, a boy with black hair nearly to his shoulders, a red fez, a purple vest, and patched boys' hareem pants jumped down further in the alley from a low building. He had a monkey on his shoulder in a vest and fez, and some kind of fruit in his hands.

Suddenly, I heard one of the guards' voices nearer. "He must've gone into the alley!"

The guards were soon at the end of the alley, but the boy had already disappeared back onto the top of the building he'd come from.

"Did you see a street rat?" one of the guards addressed me rudely.

My eyes flickered upwards. I knew he was talking about the boy, who was hovering. "_So the boy must've stolen that fruit to survive. That makes me a street mouse, I guess. And if I'm going to get any friends, turning people in is not the way to do it."_

I shook my head. "No, sir, I haven't seen anyone." I said respectfully. At the Home, I wouldn't have answered so nicely, but I was not planning on being on the receiving end of one of those swords.

The guards ran off in the opposite direction with absolutely no logic, and I called "All clear. Are you going to run some more, or stop here?"

The boy and monkey leapt down gracefully. I looked at the boy again, noticing that he was maybe one or two years older than me. "Thanks for that." he said with a quick smile.

"Um." I looked down for a moment, trying to work out what to say.

I was saved by the boy, who gave me an interested look. "Am I right when I say you're not from around here?"

I looked back at him, wondering how he guessed. "Well, I'm not exactly." I admitted. "I don't even know how I got here. I've had so much trouble just surviving by myself, that I figured it wouldn't be any harder here." I smiled slightly. "But if those guards are on the tail of everyone suspicious, I'm screwed."

The boy laughed at my bluntness. "That sounds like my life." he said. The monkey smiled too and chirped something.

I nodded. "You seem to know what you're doing, though. Up until two months ago, I still had a home." I was not going to tell the truth and sound insane, but I felt a bit less tense with this boy, so I still got the point across. Even if he was from the streets, he was definitely not the stereotypical homeless guy you see on some streets. He was friendly and natural. And the monkey – well, he was kind of cute.

The boy shrugged. "After a couple years, you get used to it. It's not easy, though."

I looked up and noticed the sky was getting darker. "Um.." I began again. "I was just wondering, do you know anywhere I could stay which is safe? Anywhere at all?"

"Well," the boy began, sounding unsure. "You could stayi where I live. I mean, it's not much, but it's better than some random alleyway."

I was a little surprised at this generosity, and a bit suspicious (hey, he was a teenage boy, what was I meant to think?) but I didn't have any other options, so I said "Are you sure? If it's no trouble?" Besides, I still had the knife on me.

"No, it's OK." the boy said.

"I do have one other request." I said shyly. "I was saying before, you seem to know what you're doing and how to survive. Would it be OK if you taught me how to do all that?"

"Well," the boy smiled, "If you'll help me with survival, then sure I will."

I smiled too. "Thanks. I'm Cleo, by the way."

He must've been the first person who didn't find my name amusing, because he simply replied, "Well, hi, Cleo. I'm Aladdin." without betraying any amusement at my name. He gestured to the monkey. "And this is Abu."

Abu raised his fez said something in a squeaky voice that sounded like "Hello."

And as I followed Aladdin and Abu through the streets, I wondered if that wishing star had actually tried to make my wish come true.

**Wow. That chapter was hard to write. Now we've got all the hard stuff over with, we'll get into some movie stuff in the next chapter. Let's go!**


	3. Chapter 2: Worthless

**OK, next chapter. Let's begin! And in regards to this chapter, yes, I do know that Aladdin is actually eighteen, not nineteen. And there are some minor changes to "One Jump Ahead" like "Street mouse" instead of "scoundrel", but having Cleo requires them.**

**Thanks for reviewing, rollingbell and XxRebel WriterxX!**

**To all the favourites and followers, thank you, but could you please review? It'll only take a minute and I love them!**

It had been about six months since I met Aladdin, who I now mostly referred to as Al. We had become pretty close since we met, and although Abu had seemed a little jealous of me at first, we'd become used to each other, too.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I hadn't worked out why this world seemed so familiar.

I was a lot more skilled at stealing and hiding from the guards, although when it came to running when I was found, speed was only on my side if Al pulled me along – which was mostly the case, since we worked as a team. But there was still one thing missing from my life, apart from the obvious.

Even when I'd first met Al, I'd liked him. But as the months went by, I started looking more closely at him. I'd always liked guys with muscles, as well as they weren't overly beefy – just like Al. I couldn't help noticing it, since he wore a vest that showed off how toned he was – probably from some of the acrobatics he had to endure when running from the guards. But by that time, I'd gotten to know him better, too. He was selfless beyond the average street boy. A few times, he'd even given up food he'd stolen to younger kids. I sometimes did too, but I usually took a bite beforehand. But then, I shouldn't have been surprised, since he'd let me, some average girl, stay in his home, even if it was only marginally better than the streets. Plus, he was nothing like the teenage boys in my old world with their minds controlled by their hormones (that's what Gem used to say, since she went around with a group at school). And, of course, because I liked Al as a person, and I thought he was hot, it was inevitable, falling for him. And it wasn't just a little crush. Maybe it started that way after a few weeks, but within three months, it was so that I actually felt a little shy at times. I was in love with him.

But without the falling in love thing, my relationship with Al (and Abu) was pretty good. All three of us were best friends. But I knew that the friendship would never go any further. I knew that Al saw me as a kind of little sister figure (he was nineteen and I'd turned seventeen within the first month) and that was never going to change in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, today, Al had gotten a loaf of bread, and now the guards were running after us on top of a building.

"I'll have your hands for trophies!" yelled Razoul, the head guard.

Both of us jumped, landing on a bunch of laundry luckily, quickly swamping ourselves in a few of the sheets as a disguise.

"You won't get away so easy!" yelled one of the guards.

"You think that was easy?" Al called up. Whenever we got chased by the guards, he never seemed to be bothered, always having that easy smile on his face. Sometimes it got on my nerves, how cocky Al sometimes was, but in a way, it was also one of the things I loved about him.

There were some women watching us, laughing. Al went up to them, saying in his charming way, "Morning, ladies."

"Hi." I said politely.

"Getting into trouble a little early today," said one of the women, "Aren't we Aladdin, Cleo?"

"Trouble?" laughed Al. "No way. You're only in trouble if you get caught-"

"Gotcha!" Razoul had both of us by the collar.

We exchanged glances and chorused "We're in trouble."

"And this time-"

This time, Abu pulled Razoul's turban over his eyes and all three of us made a run for it. But something very strange happened while we were dodging the guards. It started with Al.

"_Gotta keep, one jump ahead of the breadline, one swing ahead of the sword," _he sang.

"_We steal only what we can't afford."_

I rolled my eyes, but when I opened my mouth to ask why he was singing, the words "That's everything!" came out of my mouth instead. Something very weird was going on, which must've happened to both of us to change our speech. But we were still totally pawning the guards, so I had to submit, just hoping it wasn't going to be for ever.

"_One jump ahead of the lawmen," _Al continued, _"That's all, and that's no joke."_

I was forced to sing the next line. "_These guys don't appreciate we're broke." _At this point, we were climbing up past a rickety stack of barrels, which Al kicked onto the guards.

Since the next calls rhymed, I guessed that the guards were affected by this weird curse, too.

"_Riff raff!"  
"Street rat!"_ (Referring to Al, of course.)

"_Street mouse!" _(Referring to me.)

"_Take that!"_

"_Just a little snack, guys!" _Al and I protested.

The guards weren't pacified. "_Rip them open, take it back, guys!"_

"_I can take a hint, gotta face the facts."_ Al admitted as we all landed in the window of the home of hareem girls, addressing me and Abu. "_You're my only friends, you two."_

"_Who?" _asked all the girls, then singing more.

"_Oh, sad, Cleo and Aladdin's hit the bottom._

_They've become a two-man rise in crime."_

One girl whirled Al across the room while Abu stuffed his face with fruit and the other girls smirked at me while I stared at their outfits enviously. It wasn't fun, wearing this stupid street mouse outfit day in, day out.

"_I'd blame parents except they haven't got 'em!" _The girls' mother sang, swinging a broom at Al. He glared at her, then we both smirked at the girls. "_Gotta eat to live." _I began.

"_Gotta steal to eat." _Al finished.

"_Tell you all about it when we got the time!" _we chorused, as one of the girls pushed us off the windowsill.

There wasn't really that much point going through the whole song, except for one or two things. The first, was that some woman joined in the song to say that she thought Al was "rather tasty". I would have slapped her if we were alone. The second thing was that I stopped running long enough to see Abu threatening the guards with a sword.

"He's got a sword!" one of the guards cried fearfully.

"You idiot!" Razoul had snapped. "We've all got swords!"

The song thing finished in the end, thank God. I was sick of the guards trying to sing. It took us ages to find a quiet place to share out our bread, and when we eventually did, we spotted a couple of orphans scrounging. Al immediately gave them his share of bread. I tore off a tiny piece of mine and offered the rest. Even Abu, who obviously didn't approve of soft-heartedness at a time like that, took a huge bite and then offered it to the kids.

At that moment, we heard music playing, and left the alley. Some guy in a too-flashy suit was parading along the road.

"On his way to the palace, I suppose." I heard someone saying, and the reply.

"Another suitor for the princess." I had noticed several suitors, but the princess apparently didn't take any of them. I guessed that she would be a snob, with no prince good enough for her. She was probably just a spoilt brat.

Then again, the prince was not exactly Mr Good Guy. When the orphans ran into the road aimlessly, he tried to whip them.

Al got there first. "Hey!" he said, glaring at the prince. "If I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners!"

"And some dress sense on top of that." I added.

The prince growled at us. "I'll teach _you _some manners!" Seconds later, both of us were elbowed into the mud, with people laughing at us.

I glared at them. "Oh yeah, that's funny. Street kids in the mud." I muttered. "If any of them address me, I'll push them in and see how they like it."

"Look at that, Cleo, Abu." Al said, looking back at the prince. "It's not every day you see a horse with two rear ends." The _horse_ seemed insulted at that.

The prince glared at Al. "You are a worthless street rat. You were born a street rat, you'll die a street rat, and only your fleas – and possibly your whore – will mourn you!" The palace doors slammed shut.

I stared at the doors. I wanted to scream at him. I was _not _a whore. If I was, I probably would have thrown myself at Al by this time.

"I'm _not _worthless." Al said. "And I don't have fleas."

"I'm not a whore." I pointed out. "Forget it, Al. Let's just go home."

We went home, and Al still sang a tiny little song. "_Riff raff, street rat, I don't buy that._

_If only they'd look closer, would they see a poor boy?_

_No sirree.t_

_They'd find out, there's so much more to me..." _I watched him, thinking along the same lines, about both of us. Everyone just saw us as worthless street kids. No one knew Al as the sweet, fun smart guy I knew. No one but him knew me.

We got home just as the stars came out. "Someday," Al said, "Things are gonna change. We'll be rich, live in a palace, and never have any problems at all."

I sighed. "Wish I could believe it. Maybe you will, but after all the breaks I haven't got, I doubt I'll ever get there."

**There, end on a sweet scene. Cleo may think the princess is a spoilt brat, but when she meets Jasmine...please, review!**


	4. Chapter 3: The Girl

**Let's continue. Thanks for reviewing, rollingbell and jazzigirl95. Also, I better point out here something I missed. I've decided to have Aladdin calling Cleo "Lee" as an abbreviation.**

The very next day was pretty weird. I mean just the fact that the guards went looking for us when we were doing nothing at all was weird. Anyway, the three of us had just stolen a melon, when I noticed Al's eyes becoming focused on something further down the road the market was on. I followed his gaze to see what he was staring at.

Immediately, a feeling of jealousy flowed through me. He was staring at a girl of about my age (maybe younger) dressed in brown. She was very pretty, and I immediately felt a longing for him to look at me that way. But no, I was nothing but a kind-of younger sister. I knew it already, but it hurt more than I expected to see Al watching another girl like that. He flirted a bit, I knew that, but this was the first time he'd looked at a girl that way.

There was also one other thing. The girl looked strangely familiar like everything else, but I couldn't place her. What's more, I was sure I'd seen this exact same girl, at the exact same age, but it would have been years ago. That was pretty freaky.

Abu jumped on Al's head and waved his hand over Al's face, but got no response.

The girl seemed very unexperienced, as she picked up an apple from a stall and gave it to a kid, not expecting to pay.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said to the man, "I don't have any money."

He would've cut off her hand if Al and I hadn't stepped in. Well, it was his idea, and I knew the drill. He soon had the knife in his hand and gave it to the girl.

"I've been looking all over for you." he said to the girl.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Just play along."

"You know this girl?" said the apple-seller.

"Yes, she's our sister." I told him, adding in a whisper "She's slightly disturbed." The girl huffed in pretend annoyance.

"She said she knew the Sultan!" the apple-seller growled.

"She thinks the monkey is the Sultan!" Al quickly said.

The girl looked at Abu, and then played her role, bowing down to him. "Oh wise Sultan, how may I serve you?"

Abu mimed acting like the Sultan.

"Tragic, isn't it?" said Al. "But, no harm done."

I put an arm around the girl's shoulders and steered her along. "Come on, sis, it's time to see the doctor."

The girl stopped at a camel with a dazed look in her eyes and said "Oh, hello doctor, how are you?"

I had to stifle my giggles at her convincing act as Al said "No no no, not that one." and then to Abu, "Come on, Sultan."

At that point, coins and apples Abu had taken spilled out of his vest, so we had to make a speedy getaway.

Third POV: With Jafar

As Iago ran to create the storm clouds, Jafar put everything in place and then ordered the Sands of Time. "Show me the one who can enter the cave."

The hourglass' sands cleared and showed two teenagers, obviously street kids – none other than Aladdin and Cleo. "Well, it looks like there are two diamonds."

"Them?" screeched Iago. "That's all we've been waiting for?" He forgot to run, and was sent flying.

"Let's have the guards extend them an invitation to the palace, shall we?" Jafar said smoothly as Iago was flung against the wall.

"Swell." the parrot choked out.

Cleo's POV

We ended up taking the girl home. Abu immediately started getting jealous, since all Al seemed to do was talk to her and pay no attention to me or Abu – that was, except when he tried to take the girl's apple.

The girl didn't pay much attention to anything else. I swear, if they had kissed, I would have taken off right then.

The girl said that she'd run away because her father wanted to force her to get married, and that she wanted to just get away from being told what to do.

But then we heard voices. I gasped as I saw the guards.

Al and the girl both spoke at the same time. "They're after me! They're after _you?"_

Al glanced at me for a moment, knowing I knew what to do. Then he held out a hand to the girl, and all of us jumped. Abu was knocked into a bowl, while I felt someone grab my arms.

"Now we've got you, you little street mouse!" hissed a voice.

"Keep telling yourself that, you son of a bitch." I hissed back.

Razoul grabbed Al soon enough. "We just keep running into one another, don't we, street rat?"

"Let them go!" cried the girl.

Razoul laughed at her, knocking her down. "Lookee here, men, another street mouse!"  
"Unhand them!" cried the girl, pulling her hood off to reveal a jeweled headband. "By order of the princess!"

I gasped as all of us had to bow. "Princess Jasmine." Razoul observed.

"The princess?" I heard Al whisper. I was just as surprised, but then, it explained why she said she knew the Sultan, and her strange behaviour in the marketplace. And why she said her father wanted her to get married. But why did she have to be the one that Al started staring at? It made me even more jealous!

"What are you doing outside the palace," Razoul questioned, "And with these street kids?"

"That's not your concern." the princess said. "Do as I command, release them!"

"I would, Princess," Razoul said, "But my orders come from Jafar. You'll have to take it up with him." I didn't know who they were talking about, but I didn't take much notice at the time.

The princess was starting to look very annoyed. "Believe me, I will."

As the guards dragged us off for doing absolutely nothing, I tried to rearrange my thoughts about Princess Jasmine. It seemed that she was rejecting all her suitors because she simply didn't want to get married. But she didn't seem too much of a snob. After all, she'd tried to stop the guards.

But either way, the two of us were taken to the dungeon and chained to the wall. I was scared that we wouldn't live another 24 hours. But Al? Well, he didn't even seem to have a problem with death.

He was still thinking about Princess Jasmine.

**Cleo is NOT happy that Aladdin has fallen in love with a princess. But apart from that, I've still got a few surprises to come. Stay tuned, and review!**


	5. Chapter 4: Cave Of Wonders

**Here's our next chapter! Thanks for your review, dream lighting.**

"She was the princess!" Al muttered to himself. "I can't believe it. I must've sounded so stupid to her!"

"I don't know about that, but she sure didn't seem to think so." I quipped.

At that moment, another voice joined our conversation. "Aladdin! Lee! Hello!" Abu was at the window. He helped free me from the chains without complaint, but he decided to keep Al hanging a little longer, because he still was about as happy as me that he'd paid so much attention to the princess.

"Hey, she was in trouble." Al protested as Abu picked the locks on the chains. He gave a sigh. "Oh, she was worth it."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, 'worth it'? I saw the way you looked at her. You only helped her because she was in trouble – and because you wished at that moment that you could be a prince for her."

Al narrowed his eyes back at me. "I'm allowed to help people. What's so wrong with that, Cleo? I'd do the same if you were in trouble." I could see he was mad. He only used my actual name then.

I sighed. "Me to you, as well. But you know me. And-" I knew why I'd said it. It was because I was jealous again. I cut myself off and said "I'm sorry, Al. That was uncalled for. Can we just drop it?"

Al shrugged. "Whatever. I'll never see her again anyway. I'm a street rat, and there's a law. She has to marry a prince. She deserves a prince."

By this time, we were both free. Al sighed again. "I'm a fool." _A fool for love, _I corrected in my mind. Maybe I would have said it out loud, but another voice spoke before I could.

"You're only a fool if you give up, boy." An old man hobbled out of the darkness, using a cane. He started telling all of us about a Cave of Wonders, and how it was full of treasure. He even showed us a way out. Basically, what he said, was that he'd share it with us, because he was too old to go in himself.

"So, do we have a deal?" he questioned, holding out a hand. I exchanged glances with Al.

"I don't trust him." I whispered. He gave me this ominous feeling, like things weren't what they seemed. Or maybe it just seemed so far-fetched – a prisoner in the dungeons knowing all this about a cave, and knowing a way out – especially since he showed us a handful of rubies.

Hours later, we stood in front of a cave that looked like a lion's cave. "This had better be true, all about the wonders in here." I muttered. The old man had only demanded a lamp.

"You didn't have to come." Al reminded me crossly. He used the same tone whenever I went into what he called "diva mode".

"Shut up."

"Who disturbs my slumber?" demanded the cave in a throaty growl.

"It is I," Al said, "Aladdin."

"And I," I added, trying to sound bold, "Cleo."

The cave paused. "Proceed. Touch nothing but the lamp."

"Remember, young ones, first, fetch me the lamp," called the man, "And then, you shall have your reward."

And with that, we ventured into the cave.

Abu wanted all the gold and treasure there, of course, but we didn't let him touch a thing. Al and I were pretty dazzled, too, though. After living on the streets, the piles of jewels were amazing.

But then, nothing was more strange than the way Abu started acting. He started tugging at us, pointing to something. In the end, he started jumping on Al and making him face the object.

It was an intricately woven rug, which seemed to have its own will. And it had taken Abu's fez.

"A magic carpet." Al breathed. At that moment, it was peeking out from the treasure. It didn't seem to count as part of the treasure, since the cave hadn't gotten mad at us for interacting with it.

"Come on." Al coaxed it. "Come on out, we're not gonna hurt you."

Abu was still mad at it, and once it gave the fez back, he yelled at it, making the carpet droop and walk off dejectedly.

"Hey, don't go!" I called. "He didn't mean anything."

"Maybe you can help us." Al suggested.

The carpet seemed thrilled, jumping up and flying around each of us. In fact, it showed us where the lamp we were looking for was.

Al went up to get it, while I stayed down. But even so, I couldn't stop Abu's eyes wandering to a giant ruby. Carpet and I tried to hold him, back, but just as Al picked up the lamp and turned, Abu had the ruby in his hands.

The cave spoke again. "You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never again see the light of day!" Abu tried putting the ruby back, but it turned into lava.

I screamed as lava began to flow through the cave. The stairs up to the lamp turned into the rocky slide of dyom, practically. Luckily, before I could get burned, Carpet scooped me up, and positioned itself to catch Al with it. Then we got Abu and had to make a – well – fly for it. Not easy when a wave of lava is chasing you.

Soon, Abu was clinging to both our heads in fear. Al pulled him off. "Abu, this is no time to panic!"

I think we both realized at the same time that we were headed towards a wall. "Start panicking..."

But Carpet seemed to know where it was going. As for the cave...well, it still had a tiny little hole where we could still see that decrepit old man waiting for that lamp we were supposed to get for him. Directly below us, the lava had at last stopped flowing, but the ground below would definitely make for a painful fall.

But before I could get up there, some flying rubble came past, knocking me right off the carpet. I screamed for the long, long way down. I'm not sure what happened after that – I saw Abu and Al hanging by their fingertips near the top. I think Carpet might've caught me, but I blacked out after that.

**Yeah, yeah, this wasn't original at all. But I have a totally predictable twist upcoming, so stay tuned and review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Meeting Genie

**Last time we left off, Cleo got knocked off the carpet and fell onto the cave floor. If everything else went the same, she'd probably be dead. It's just lucky that Carpet wasn't trapped this time, huh? On to the chapter. Thanks for your reviews, dream lighting, TaylorRiley17 and Xx Rebel Writer xX!**

"Lee! Cleo!"

I opened my eyes slowly, rubbing my head. "Ow. I think I lost a couple brain cells." I muttered. Abu had woken me up, and it felt like he might've been trying to do so by pulling my hair. That wasn't good for the headache I had from the fall.

Obviously I hadn't lost my ability to love, because Al was the first thing I thought about when I woke up, just like always. And he happened to be unconscious, lying half on top of Carpet.

"Al!" I shook him gently, anxious.

"Aladdin!" chirped Abu.

Finally, Al groaned as he opened his eyes and let Carpet up. He glared up at the rock-filled opening of the cave, remembering something the man did after I passed out. He shook his fist. "That...two faced son-of-a-jackal!" (_What happened to son-of-a-bitch, _I wondered.) Then he sighed. "Well, whoever he was, he's long gone with that lamp."

Abu grinned and whipped the lamp out.

Al and I grinned at that. "Why, you hairy little thief!" Al mock-scolded, taking the lamp. "It looks like a worthless, beat-up piece of junk. I think there's something written here-"

"Wait a sec." I said, taking the lamp myself. There _was_ something written, but the lamp was covered in dust, so I started brushing it off.

I stopped as the lamp literally jumped out of my hands, with a glowing outline. Smoke puffed out of it, and eventually revealed a big, blue...um, person? I fought the sense that told me that I should be scared, even though he was the size of a giant.

The person suddenly spoke, addressing no one in particular. "Ten thousand years will give you _such _a crick in the neck. Hang on a second." He literally picked up his head and twirled it around, then put it back on his neck.

"Wow, does it feel good to be out of there!" he exclaimed, referring to the lamp. Suddenly, he held a mic. "It's great to be back, ladies and gentlemen." He held out the mic to me. "Hi, where you from? What's your name?"

I exchanged puzzled glances with Al and then said, "Um, Cleo Sparks."

"Cleo Sparks!" announced the...I'll just call him a man for now. My name appeared on a convenient sign lit up. "Hello, Cleo, nice to have you on the show. Can we call you Clii, or maybe just Sparks, or how about Ospar?"

I giggled at that. "My friends call me Lee." I told him.

"I must've hit my head harder than I thought." Al whispered to me.

"I see it too." I whispered back.

"You smoke? Mind if I do?" asked Blue, then started laughing as smoke appeared. He then addressed Abu. "Oh, sorry, cheetah, hope I didn't singe the fur." Then he noticed Al at long last, and asked me "So who's this?"

"I'm Aladdin." Al said.

"But I call him Al." I added. "We're basically siblings."

Then there was a little bit with Carpet, before Blue looked at me again and said, "Hey, you're a lot smaller than my last master. Either that, or I'm getting bigger." I hated it when people pointed out how small I was (I was so petite I looked fourteen), but the beer belly appearing on him momentarily told me that he wasn't really serious. "Look at me from the side, do I look different to you?" he asked.

"Wait a second." I said. "Back up. I am your master...mistress...whatever?"

"That's right! She can be taught!" Suddenly, there was a mortarboard on my head and a diploma in my hand.

"What would you wish of me?" continued Blue, starting to parody a bunch of things as he spoke. "The ever impressive, the long contained, often imitated, but never duplicated..." A whole bunch of him appeared for a moment. "Genie of the Lamp! Direct from the lamp, for your own wish fulfillment.."

He was a _genie? _And why didn't I work it out before? Maybe I really _did_ lose some brain cells.

I mean, in this world, I guessed that a genie in a lamp wasn't really a huge thing. After all, I had rubbed the lamp. So it looked like I got three wishes.

Al still had to have it explained, but I was simply too surprised to believe it.

"This has got to be a joint dream." I whispered.

"Master!" Genie exclaimed, and I could swear I heard music start playing. "I don't think you quite realize what you've got here," Al and I were magically lifted onto a rock. "So why don't you just ruminate whilst I illuminate the possibilities."

He lay in front of us (so we were at eye-level), propped up by his fists. In one, he held out a bunch of frightening-looking thugs who surrounded us. As he did so, he sang "_Well Ali Baba had them 40 thieves, Scherazade had a thousand tales," _

Suddenly, he appeared as boxing gloves, which beat away the thieves. "_But Master, you're in luck cause up your sleeves, you got a brand of magic never fails!"_

Next the scene was a boxing ring. "_You've got some power in your corner now, some heavy ammunition in your camp,"_

Next he was in the Lamp itself, and grabbed my hand so I rubbed the lamp again. "_You got some punch, piyazz, yahoo and how, see all you gotta do is rub that lamp,_

_And I'll say,"_

Al and I were suddenly in chairs at a table. "_Mi-iss Cleo, ma'am, what will your pleasure be?_

_Let me take your order, jot it down, you ain't never had a friend like me."_

I couldn't count every time our situation changed, so I'll skip to the end, where some hareem girls were dancing around Al, and a princely guy was swinging me around.

"_Mi-iss Cleo, ma'am," _Genie sang, "_Have a wish or two or three,_

_I'm on the job," _he turned into the girl Al was about to kiss, "_You big nabob,"_

Things started appearing randomly. "_You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,_

_You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,_

_You ain't never – had a – friend – like – me!"_

Abu was trying to gather up the gold, before Genie started swirling everything away.

"_You ain't never had a friend like me!" _All that was left was a buzzing sign flashing "Applause." Only Carpet did.

Al and I were still adjusting to the situation. But my first thought? _Awesomeness!_

**There! Was that twist with Cleo being the one to rub the lamp predictable or what? That has only happened in one "OC-in-Aladdin" that I've read, but whatever. Please, review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Make A Wish

**Sorry, no witty introduction. Let's just continue. Thanks for reviewing, TaylorRiley17 and dream lighting.**

"So what'll it be?" Genie questioned.

I smiled. "There aren't any rules apart from not wishing for more wishes, are there – like, everything except unlimited or extra wishes?"

Genie turned into some formal guy, to explain "some quid quo pros." Then he turned back into himself again.

"Number one: I can't kill anybody." He had his head cut off, adding, "So don't ask. Rule number two," he put his head back on. "I can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else." His head turned into a giant pair of lips and kissed my cheek. He turned back again. "You little punim, there. Rule number three: I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture – I don't like doing it!" He finally went back to normal – well, as normal as any genie can be. "Other than that, you got it."

I glanced at Al. He smirked a little. "Some all-powerful genie you've got, Cleo." Then he winked. "Can't even bring people back from the dead. I don't know, he probably can't even get us out of this cave."

I knew what he was trying to tell me, and I winked back. Then I added to his comment "OK, I guess we'll have to find a way out on our own."

A blue foot slammed down, blocking us.

"Excuse me?" Genie did NOT look happy. "Are you looking at me? Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here, and all of a sudden you're walking out on me? I don't think so, not right now. You're getting your wishes so SIT DOWN!" I was sure I saw fire in his eyes for that one moment.

We were immediately seated on Carpet, Abu giving a little screech of fear. Genie was back to normal – happy, that is – and said, like Carpet was a plane, "In case of emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, anywhere! Keep your hands and arms inside the carpet, cause we're..." Carpet got out of the cave straightaway. "Out of here!"

I wasn't scared of heights, and just looked down on the desert, flying through the night sky. It was amazing, beautiful. But I had more important things to attend to – three things, actually. Not making people fall in love took out my greatest wish – but then, in everything I'd ever seen, making someone fall in love kills their personality, and I definitely did not want that to happen to Al. It would be so unfair to manipulate him like that, anyway.

On the other side of the coin, I knew that Al's wish at the moment, was to have a chance to win over his princess. And if she had to marry a prince, that meant...oh, lightbulb! I just hoped, that if I did him this favour, he wouldn't screw up and start trying to act cool and look stupid – she seemed to like him enough when he was being considerate and...well, real. Besides, that was how I felt, too.

As we flew on through the night, the sky slowly got lighter and lighter until the watery morning sun shone down and the sky became blue. The sand below became calmer, and eventually, we got to a tiny little oasis with a little pool and shady palm trees.

"Thank you for choosing Magic Carpet Airlines for all your travel needs." Genie was now saying, in an air hostess voice. "Please don't stand until the rug has come to a complete stop." Carpet stopped to let the rest of us off, and Genie went back to normal.

"How about that, doubting Mustafas?" he challenged.

"Oh, you sure showed us." Al said carelessly.

I smiled, and said, "Now about my..." but I soon realized that I couldn't finish. I kept thinking about how we'd pulled off the trick and gotten out of the cave without using any of my wishes. "OK, before that. You do realize that I didn't wish anything before? You got us out of the cave on your own?"

Genie froze, and then his mouth dropped open for a moment. "Well, I feel sheepish." he said, turning into a sheep.

I grinned at Al for a moment.

"Alright, but no more freebies." Genie said firmly.

"That's fair." I shrugged. "Besides, I'd feel really guilty taking advantage of you again." I said this part teasingly. "So...three wishes. What would you wish for?" Before either of them could talk, I said, "And don't say anything, Al, I already know what you'd wish for."

Genie started looking serious. "No one's ever asked me that before. Well, in my case – forget it."

"What?" Al and I asked in unison.

"No, I can't..."

"We won't tell." I promised.

Genie sighed. "Freedom."

Al picked up the lamp. "You're a prisoner?" he said.

"It's all part and parcel of the whole genie thing." Genie explained. "Phenominal cosmic powers...itty bitty living space."

I stared. "Wow, I never expected it, that's terrible."

Genie continued to explain why he already wasn't free. "The only way to get out of this is if my master wishes me out, so you can guess how often that's happened."

I exchanged a glance with Al and made a decision. "I've got three wishes. I'm pretty sure that two will be enough, so I'll do it."

Genie wouldn't believe me at first, but I said "Come on, I know what it's like to be trapped, like I was for, like, fourteen years before I came to Agrabah. So I guess I owe it to myself to set you free."

"Well, here's hoping." Genie admitted, before going back to his hyper self. "Alright, let's make some magic! How about it, what is it you want most?"

"We-ell," I said slowly, "I was actually thinking about my brother here." I pointed to Al. "He met this princess yesterday, and she has to get married soon. I think I might as well use a wish. It'll help us, too. Just so he can get into the palace, I want him to be a prince, and me, a princess."

Al stared at me for a moment. As Genie looked through a spell book, Al said "Lee, are you sure you want to do this for me?"

"It's the least I can do." I said honestly. "I mean, when we met, you let me stay with you and taught me how to deal with living on the streets without expecting anything in return. Why shouldn't I help you win your princess over?" I didn't mention that I was doing it for myself, in a way. It would be fun to have the best of everything for once. Although...I wasn't sure why I wanted to help Al with the princess, since I was still jealous of her. I guessed that love was irrational. So even if you loved someone, you wanted to help them so much that you'd play matchmaker for them. I still dreamed about Al almost every night.

Genie had at last found the spell, and addressed me. "Is that an official wish? Say the magic words!"

"Right." I grinned. "Genie, I wish for you to make Al and me royal!"

Once we were done, Al was in white with a turban, I was in a floaty forest green tank top and matching hareem pants with my dark hair twirled into an elaborate bun (and I hid the lamp in a deep pocket where it didn't show), and Abu was an elephant. I also had a jeweled headband – emerald, to match my attire.

"But we're not through yet!" Genie cried dramatically. "Hang on to you turban or hairband, kids, we're gonna make you stars!"

**Well, Cleo wants to have fun. It's like I said – how can you love someone yet want to help them by playing matchmaker? We'll see what happens, I guess. Please, please, PLEASE review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Royalty

**Now what? Oh yeah, "Prince Ali". This'll be fun. Thanks for reviewing, TaylorRiley17, dream lighting, Guest and XxRebel WriterxX.**

I smiled to myself, flicking my new earrings. They had come with my outfit – pretty little emeralds and rubies.

We were back in Agrabah, and Al and I were seated on Carpet, who lay on Abu the elephant. It was going to be a huge procession. Since I wanted this wish to be all about Al, Genie wasn't going to mention me in the procession on my request.

Still, I would get to have some fun, and just looking around would be cool.

There were plenty of people announcing us – or, at least, "Prince Ali", which was Al's prince alias. I stuck with my real name, calling myself "Princess Cleo", since I was now a princess.

Abu walked along with Al and I in a little seat thing on top with Carpet, which meant it would be very hard to fall off the elephant.

I could hear men singing already. "_Make way for Prince Ali!_

_Say hey, it's Prince Ali!"_

Genie had turned himself into a regular man, and was already singing loud enough for everyone to hear. It was good that I didn't have to sing this time.

"_Hey, clear the way in the old bazaar!  
Hey you, let us through, it's a bright new star_

_Oh come be the first on the block to meet his eye,_

_Make way, here he comes_

_Ring bells, bang the drums,_

_Are you gonna love this guy!_

_Prince Ali, fabulous he, Ali Ababwa!" _Al smiled as he was revealed. I smiled as regally as I could too, and waved.

"_Genuflect, show some respect, down on one knee!" _Genie sang as the guards, including Razoul, bowed, making me smirk. If only they knew!

As Genie continued to sing, I looked at the palace. I could see a cheerful-looking short man in white who had to be the Sultan, with a tall dark-skinned darkly-dressed man with a staff, frowning. When Genie got to the line about Al having "faced the galloping hordes", I noticed Princess Jasmine at another balcony. She was wearing a sky blue outfit just like mine with her long black hair in a ponytail with two hairbands.

By the time there had been a verse in which a bunch of hareem girls cooed over Al, the princess was looking bored. In the end, she sighed and disappeared from the balcony.

We were soon up to the palace doors, as Abu busted in and Genie went on with the last verse.

"_Prince Ali, amorous he, Ali Ababwa!_

_Heard your princess was a sight lovely to see!" _He sang right to the Sultan, then tossed him onto his well cushioned throne.

"_And that, good people is why_

_He got dolled up and dropped by_

_With sixty animals, llamas galore,_

_With his bears and lions, a brass band and more,_

_With his forty fakirs, his cooks, his bakers_

_And birds that warble on key,_

_Make way, for Prince Ali!"_

As the song ended, Carpet got up, and took Al and me right in front of the throne. We both bowed as the tall man slammed the door, with everything except Abu, Carpet, and of course, Al and I, pushed out.

The Sultan clapped and smiled at the procession and performance. "Splendid, absolutely marvellous!" he exclaimed.

Al introduced himself and me under our aliases as royalty, and explained "I have journeyed from afar to seek your daughter's hand."

"Prince Ali and Princess Cleo Ababwa, I'm delighted to meet you." the Sultan said. He then gestured to the tall dark man. "This is my royal vizier, Jafar. He's delighted too."

Oh, so he was the one who said we were criminals and set the guards on us. I hated him on sight, and he didn't seem very delighted to meet us at all. He also had a disagreeable-looking parrot (who I later learned was called Iago like the guy from _Othello_) on his shoulder, I noticed. Who did he think he was, a pirate or something?

"Ecstatic." he said flatly, scowling. He then addressed Al. "I'm afraid, Prince Abubu-"

"Ababwa." Al and I corrected.

"Whatever." Jafar said. "You can't just parade in here, uninvited, and expect to-"

Well, the Sultan didn't seem to mind. He even asked to have a go on Carpet. As he flew along, laughing happily, Jafar glared at Al and said "Just where did you say you were from?"

I stepped in and said quickly "The other side of the desert."

"Much further than most people have traveled." Al added.

Jafar sent daggers at both of us, just daring us to say any more. Now I really didn't like this guy.

Then we got onto the subject of marriage, and the real princess.

"Jasmine will like this one!" the Sultan said excitedly.

"And I'm pretty sure I'll like Princess Jasmine." Al said with a smile.

"Your Highness, no." Jafar protested. "I must intercede, on Jasmine's behalf. This boy is no different from the others. What makes him think he is worthy of the princess?"

"I am Prince Ali Ababwa." Al began.

I interrupted him. "What he means is, that all he wants is a fair chance." I said, hoping that this would stop Jafar. I wasn't sure why he was so against us, anyway, since he hadn't seemed to recognize us, simply making weak excuses to keep Al from his goal.

"Just let her meet me." Al said confidently. "I will win your daughter." He wasn't acting natural at all, and I raised my eyebrows at his tone.

"How dare you!" We all turned around at the voice. I recognized it from the one time I'd met her. Sure enough, Princess Jasmine was standing a little way away from us. "All of you!" she continued. "Standing around, deciding _my _future? I am not a prize to be won!" She stormed back into the room she'd come from.

"Oh dear." the Sultan frowned. "Don't worry, Prince Ali, Princess Cleo. Just give Jasmine time to cool down a little."

"Your Highness," I said shyly. "May I try and speak to her now? When I was younger, I had sisters who used to act exactly the same way, and I'm sure I could talk her around." Truth be told, I was, of course, lying, but I really wanted this wish to work out, and if the princess herself wouldn't even give Al a chance after that impression, then it would have to be up to me.

The Sultan let me. "Maybe it would do Jasmine good to have another girl speak to her, for once." he muttered.

I crept to the curtains surrounding Jasmine's room. "Excuse me," I called, "Princess Jasmine?"

"Who is it?" I heard her call.

"Princess Cleo." I said. "I wanted to apologize for the way my brother talked about you. Can I come in?"

I heard a sigh, then "If you must."

I came in shyly, and stopped short when I realized that there was a tiger in her room, who opened an eye, and growled when it saw me.

Jasmine, however, didn't seem at all fazed. She even looked a little amused.

"Have I just walked into a death sentence?" I quavered. I'd never liked jungle cats.

This actually made Jasmine laugh. She smiled at the tiger. "Rajah, you can leave her. Don't worry."

Rajah, the tiger, seemed to understand.

"Anyway," I said, "Like I was saying, I wanted to apologize and explain why my brother was so overconfident and stupid. He's nervous. Terrified you won't accept him."

"Well, if he keeps acting like that, I certainly won't." Jasmine said childishly.

"But, please, give him a chance." I begged. "I mean, you let me in."

"If you came in here to make me agree to marry that prince, you can get out." she replied.

"OK, OK. Chill." I said. "I'll leave that to him. But, could I at least be your friend for as long as I'm here? I've been locked up in my own palace for years," - _Children's Home, _I added mentally - "And although I've kind of had sisters, none of them liked me. I've never really had any friends." As I spoke, I remembered the wishing star wish – some friends, something to fight for, a life. I had found a friend in Al. Now, I had something to fight for – happiness. And Jasmine – well, considering that she'd tried running away, she obviously would have wished for the same things – a life and friends. So why shouldn't I have another friend, and why shouldn't she have one too?

Jasmine scrutinized my face, her hazel eyes staring into mine. Finally, a half-smile appeared on her face. "Well, if you promise not to try and persuade me into anything, I'll let you be friends." she said, a bit reluctantly.

I smiled and said enthusiastically "Awesome! So does that mean I can stop using your title?" Jasmine shrugged, as if to say _I don't care._

"Same goes for me, just call me Lee. That's what my friends call me." I said brightly. "I'll see you later, OK?"

**Well, Cleo's trying. At least Jasmine's accepted her. That's a good sign, right? Please, review?**


	9. Chapter 8: Recognition

**I think you know what's coming up. BTW, since "A Whole New World" will be coming, I'll just say this now: Lea Salonga (Jasmine and Mulan's singing voices in Disney) has an awesome voice! Thanks for reviewing, XxRebelWriterxX, grapejuice101 and Guest!**

While Jasmine had let me in a little bit, she still refused to acknowledge Al.

"Jasmine won't even let me talk to her." he sighed to himself while we were in the garden that evening. "I should have known I couldn't pull off this stupid prince wish. You should have just made yourself a princess, Lee."

I scoffed. "Me, princess material? You're kidding. I did this wish for you. If you started acting natural around her, she might actually accept you. It's nothing to do with your prince thing. Do you remember what she said in the hall? She said that she wasn't a prize, and obviously all the other princes treated her as one. Start treating her like the girl you met in the marketplace. She liked you then, and I can bet that she'll like you if you continue to treat her like any other girl."

At that moment, something from my memory surfaced. It was fuzzy, but somehow, I knew that Al was going to fly up onto Jasmine's balcony on Carpet, then make a total idiot of himself, and finally apologize to Jasmine for whatever he said.

And...well, he did. Genie suggested telling Jasmine the truth, but Al insisted that it wouldn't work. "If Jasmine found out I was just some street rat, she'd laugh at me."

"A woman appreciates a man who can make her laugh!" Genie exclaimed, turning into a lampshade on Al's head. He took it off, and it turned back into a turban. Genie appeared, back to normal. "Al, all joking aside, you really ought to be yourself."

"That's exactly what I said!" I exclaimed. "Al, do you need any more convincing, or are you just going to act like an arrogant prick to Jasmine?"

Jasmine's balcony wasn't too high up, so I heard everything, apart from the fact that Genie turned into a bee and suggested to Al what to say. Well, I saw him turn into the bee, but I couldn't hear anything he said to Al.

I heard Jasmine ask who it was, and heard Al's reply, "It's me, Prince Ali."

"I do _not _want to see you." Jasmine was replying flatly.

"Princess, please, give me a chance."

"Just leave me alone!"

Rajah also defended Jasmine. I could hear him growling. But then I heard Jasmine's exclamation of "Wait, wait! Do I...know you? You remind me of someone I met in the marketplace."

I grinned, inwardly cheering. "_She recognizes him!" _But of course, she couldn't be told who "Prince Ali" really was.

Al, as I had thought, did act pretty stupid. He was telling Jasmine how beautiful she was, and although I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, she sounded seductive. I could hear what Al was saying, though.

"Yeah...I know...Right. Right, a prince like me."

I heard Jasmine's next words clearly. "And every other stuffed shirt, swaggering peacock I've met!" she said angrily. When Al tried to call her back, she simply told him to "Jump off a balcony!"

"Redeem yourself!" I hissed up, hoping he'd hear me. "Tell her she isn't a prize, like you were treating her. Apologize."

It was less than a minute later, that I saw Al help Jasmine onto Carpet, and they zoomed off into the night, outside the palace walls. I sighed. More than anything, I wished that it was me that Al was taking on that ride. No doubt he'd win her heart.

Suddenly, the lyric from my childhood filled my mind again. "_I can open your eyes..." _But this time, they continued, and they were in a voice I knew well.

"_Take you wonder by wonder,_

_Over, sideways and under on a magic carpet ride,_

_A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view_

_No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming.._

I started singing the next words that came back to me. "_A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew_

_But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear,_

_That now I'm in a whole new world with you."_

I tried to connect it. This world had something to do with that song lyric. Al was the one I'd heard sing that, and if I wasn't mistaken, the girl singing with him that I remembered was Jasmine. She was the girl with the dark hair I remembered too, I realized in a flash. That was why she'd seemed familiar!

Genie was still in the grounds, I knew, out of the lamp, so I went to find him. "Hey, Genie?" I said. "Do you know if people be sent to different worlds under particular circumstances?"

Genie looked up. "Lee, have you been smoking something?"

"I'm not kidding!" I insisted. "I know it sounds crazy, but I thought you might know, since you're the closest person to magic I know. This is what happens. When I was very little, I remember seeing Jasmine, or someone who looked like her, and she looked the same age she does now. Also, I remembered this song, and Al and Jasmine were the ones singing it, yet I only met Al six months ago and Jasmine a couple days ago. I've been with Al since the first time he even saw Jasmine, so it can't be an actual memory. What's wrong with this picture? I mean, even look at me. Do I look like I'm from Agrabah? Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not."

But there was no explanation. I wandered around the palace grounds, trying to work out what it was. That's how the trouble began.

After hours of this, I felt someone grab me from behind and force me to the ground. I was soon bound up, and I knew no one was going to save me.

At first, I thought the guards had found out who I really was, but then a shadow fell over me, and I looked up to see the one who had ordered my capture and death. He wasn't facing me, though. Al was the mirror image of me. He had obviously already finished his date with Jasmine and had dropped her off at the balcony.

Back to that bastard Jafar! "I'm afraid you and your sister have worn out your welcome, Prince Abubu." he smirked. He then walked away, calling to the guards "Make sure they're never found."

I heard the guards laugh as they hurled us over a cliff, bag and all. Lucky I had the lamp in there, because I managed to rub it just before I fell unconscious, which was a huge feat with my hands literally tied.

Well, I could hear, but I couldn't see or respond when Genie was talking.

"Never fails." he was saying. "Get in a tub and there's a rub at the lamp. Hello!" Then I heard him gasp. "Al, Lee? Kids! Snap out of it! You can't cheat on this one, Lee, I can't help you unless you make a wish! You have to say 'Genie, I want you to save our lives'. OK? Come on, Cleo!" I felt him shaking me. "I'll take that as a yes."

I immediately came to properly once we were up on dry land.

"Don't you scare me like that!" Genie exclaimed.

Both Al and I thanked him. "I guess that's my second wish gone." I smiled, "But it's cool. Thank you so much."

"I'm getting kinda fond of you kids." Genie smiled. "Not that I wanna pick out curtains or anything."

**Well, thanks a lot, Jafar, you bastard, trying to kill Cleo and Aladdin! But Cleo is remembering something. But she still doesn't know where she remembers "A Whole New World" or Jasmine from. Please, review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Evil Revealed

**Next up...well, you know. Read. Thanks for reviewing, dream lighting and Guest!**

Al and I got Carpet to take us up to Jasmine's balcony.  
"So you won her?" I whispered.

"Yeah, she loved the carpet ride." Al whispered back.

I sighed. "She's a lucky girl." I murmured enviously.

"What?"

"Uh..." Damn it, he heard me! "Um, I think we better tell Jasmine that Jafar tried to kill us."

Al glanced in and muttered "Now's the perfect time." The Sultan and Jasmine were in the room at the moment. And so was Jafar.  
"Prince Ali and his sister left." Jafar was saying.

Al and I stepped out. "Better check your crystal ball again, Jafar." Al scowled.

Jasmine's face lit up and she ran to Al.

"Tell them the truth, Jafar." I scowled at the man. "You tried to have us killed."

"Ridiculous nonsense!" Jafar said, holding his staff in front of the Sultan's face, I noticed. "She is obviously lying."

"Obviously...lying." the Sultan murmured.

"Father, what's wrong with you?" Jasmine demanded, going to him.

Al ran up beside me and wrenched Jafar's staff away. "I know what's wrong!" He smashed the staff, and suddenly, the Sultan seemed to be back to normal. "Your Majesty," Al said, holding up the remains, "Jafar's been controlling you with this."

The Sultan seemed to get back in control quickly, calling for the guards to get Jafar. But that sorcerer was one step ahead. For a moment, his eyes lit up, as he stared at me, and then he suddenly held up a vial of red powder. "This is not done yet!" he cried, and seconds later, he was gone.

Still, the Sultan was thrilled that his daughter had chosen a suitor, who would be able to take on his position next. But as the Sultan rambled on about Al's "impeachable moral character", I saw Al's face fall. I guessed that he hadn't thought about the fact that marrying a princess who was the only child of a royal in power came with strings attached.

That afternoon, Al wanted to talk to Genie, whose first reaction was to announce "Hail the conquering hero!" and then become a one-man marching band.

"Al, you've just won the heart of the princess!" Genie persisted. "Lee, you have achieved your goal. What are you going to do next?"

I knew exactly what Genie wanted. But I caught Al's eye, and I couldn't do it.

Genie held up a script and whispered to me "Psst, your line is 'I'm going to free the Genie'. Anytime."

I sighed. "Genie, I promise I will free you. But Al is feeling really insecure and doesn't want to become Sultan."

"They don't want to make me Sultan." Al pointed out. "They want to make Prince Ali Sultan. Without you, I'm just Aladdin."

"You won!" Genie protested.

"Because of you!" Al snapped. "The only reason anyone thinks I'm worth anything is because of you!"

"That is not true!" I cried. "I always thought you were worth something! So now I don't count? And besides, I only made this wish for you."

"But what if they find out I'm not really a prince and you're not really a princess? What if Jasmine finds out? I'll lose her. I can't keep this up on my own."

I sighed. "Look, Genie, would you understand if I postpone the whole freeing thing? I will wish you free, and that's a promise. But Al really needs support until he's gotten over it. Please?"

But Genie scowled. "Fine, I understand." he said sarcastically. "After all, both of you have lied to everyone else. Hey, I was starting to feel left out. Now if you'll excuse me..." He went back into the lamp.

I scowled. "I can't believe this!" I yelled into the lamp. "I said I'd still free you! Can't you hang on for a few days?"

All I got was a raspberry in return. I threw the lamp down in frustration. "Fine, but I'm not going to talk to you again until you grow up and try to understand the position we're in!"

Abu and Carpet were glancing in at us, but at my temper, they were turning around. I didn't have the kindness at that moment to call them back in apology.

Al was the only one left. I turned on him. "Do you realize what I just did, all for you?" I exclaimed. "I made my first wish so that you could have a chance with Jasmine, I try to help talk her around, I even postpone my last wish when I had to use my second one to save our lives, and now Genie won't let me explain! It's all your fault that I had to postpone it! And in the last couple of days, you have been treating me like nothing. And I'm sorry, I know you've met a princess, but most boys don't blow off their sisters just because they've got a girlfriend, even if she is that beautiful and that rich and that romantic."

Al sighed. "What's happened to you, Lee? I might have done some stupid things, but you've changed too. Ever since I met Jasmine, you've been acting like – almost like...well, like you're jealous or something. Of Jasmine. And not just because she has some of my attention, but – well, you actually sounded envious when I told you how much Jasmine loved the magic carpet ride. And now you say that you always thought I was worth something..."

I rolled my eyes. "So you finally figured out what I've felt for the last few months." I muttered. "Well done, Einstein. I can't even deal with this right now. I'm going."

Ladies and gentlemen, this is another episode of "Why Moody Cleo Is A Nightmare".

Little did I know that the worst was yet to come. When I heard a voice that sounded like Jasmine but too sugar-sweet to actually be her calling to Al, I didn't think much of it, until I heard another voice in the menagerie shrieking "You got a problem, Pinky?!"

I barely realized what happened until I saw Iago flying above my head, holding the lamp in his claws. I stealthily followed him, and when the lamp finally got to its destination, that was when I realized that this slightly uncomfortable space was soon going to get a lot worse.

**Well, my favourite Genie line is coming up so I wanted Cleo to witness it. And what about her feelings for Aladdin, which he's seemed to realize? We'll see. Please, review!**


	11. Chapter 10: Ex-Royalty

**Next up...well, I know you know, so let's just continue. Thanks for reviewing, XxRebelWriterxX, TaylorRiley17, Guest and dream lighting!**

Jafar held the lamp, smirking. Then he rubbed it, and Genie came out, saying, "You know, Lee, I'm getting really..." then he turned and saw Jafar. "I don't think you're her. Tonight, the part of Lee will be played by a tall dark and sinister ugly man-"

Jafar pulled him down and stepped on his face, snarling "I am your master now!"

"I was afraid of that." mumbled Genie. I winced. Though I had been mad at Genie, he was such a friendly guy and it hurt me to see him being treated so badly.

"Genie, grant me my first wish!" Jafar ordered grandly. "I wish to rule on high, as Sultan!"

I took that as my cue to make a run for it. But then, by the time I'd gotten to where Al, Jasmine and the Sultan were, the Sultan had nothing but boxers on, and Jafar was there, clothed as the Sultan.

"Jafar, you vile betrayer!" the Sultan cried.

"That's Sultan vile betrayer to you!" screeched Iago.

Al glanced over at me. "Oh yeah? We'll just see about that-" he cut himself off when he saw my face. Jafar started laughing, especially at me.

"Finders keepers, Abubus." he smirked.

"Bastard." I muttered.

At that moment, I looked up and saw the giant version of Genie which was now putting the palace up on a mountain, further away.

Al and I jumped on Carpet, who took us further up as Jasmine and the Sultan stumbled on the balcony that slanted alarmingly as Genie finished placing the palace. "Genie, no!" Al cried, and I saw Genie's regretful hopeless expression.

"Sorry, kids." he said in a depressed tone. "I've got a new master now."

I didn't see all of what happened further down, but I saw Jafar make his second wish: to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Then he used his newly acquired staff to make Jasmine and the Sultan bow to him. When Rajah ran in to defend his mistress, Jafar turned him into a kitten. Al and I zoomed down on Carpet.

"Oh, Princess," Jafar sang out to Jasmine, holding her face up by the tip of his staff, "There are a couple of people I'm dying to introduce you to!"

"Jafar, get your hands off her!" Al yelled, but both of us were suspended in mid-air by the staff. Al was brought down to the level, but Jafar obviously had other plans for me, since I was stuck there, directing silent curses at him (the staff was paralyzing too, apparently).

Wasn't this just the perfect time for someone to break into song? But Jafar managed to do it, and he even had the nerve to steal the tune Genie had made up to introduce me and Al.

"_Prince Ali, yes, this is he, but not as you know him." _he sang.

"_Read my lips and come to grips with reality._

_Yes, meet a blast from your past,_

_Whose lies were too good to last._

_Say hello to your precious – Prince – Ali!" _On each of the last three words, he zapped Al, and slowly, each part of his prince clothes disappeared, until he looked like a street boy again.  
"Or should we say Aladdin?" Iago called out.

"Ali?" Jasmine whispered.

"Jasmine – I – I tried to tell you...I'm just..."

But Jafar wasn't finished. I knew that he was going to expose me, even before he began to sing again, in the exact same tune.

"_Let's not forget, this young strumpet, known as Princess Cleo,_

_Have a stare, and then compare, her true ID_

_A girl from somewhere in space,_

_In this world she has no place," _I froze for a moment. How did Jafar know that this was a different world that I once knew when I was very little, but never actually participated in?

"_She's nothing more than the orphaned – street mouse – Cleo!" _Jafar finished, zapping me thrice.Again, my beautiful outfit turned back into my old street girl clothes, and my hair flowed past my shoulders.

Jasmine stared at me.

"I wanted to tell you, Jasmine!" I said pleadingly. "This bastard just-"

Jafar interrupted. "_So Ali, turns out to be merely Aladdin," _As he sang this, he turned Abu back into a monkey.

"_Cleo's a con, need I go on, take it from me._

_Their personality flaws give me adequate cause_

_To send him packing on a one-way trip_

_Let his prospects take a terminal dip_

_She will cry as she says goodbye, he's at the ends of the earth, whoopee!_

_So long...ex-Royalty!"_

Al was sent flying somewhere far off with Abu while I cowered with the Sultan and Jasmine, trying hard not to make Jafar's prediction of me crying true.

I glared at him, though. "How could you?" I scowled. "And come to that, why am I not going with him if I have no place here?"

Jafar simply smirked. "Why, I simply thought that you could take some time away from that brother of yours, so I just couldn't have the two of you die together and stay together. Although you don't really think of him as a sibling, do you? Not that you're even really related to him."

I glared more fiercely. "Have you been spying on me? How do you know all of this about me?"

But as I spoke, another memory came to surface, just long enough for me to catch it.

_Jasmine was standing with Jafar, dressed in red instead of blue, wearing a crown. Al was in Jasmine's line of sight, trying to get the lamp, but then Jafar saw the reflection in Jasmine's crown and went in for the attack._

"_How many times do I have to kill you, boy?"_

Just from that, I was sure I'd see Al again. I still worried about how long he'd be gone, and what would happen to him, but if Jafar was going to say "How many times do I have to kill you" than it meant that he'd evade death again.

But meanwhile, it was just me, Jasmine and the Sultan against the most dangerous sorcerer in the world, with one last wish left (although he couldn't use it to kill any of us, make any of us fall in love, or bring someone back from the dead). Although I'd seen Jasmine would be OK, the Sultan was nowhere to be seen, and I knew this world didn't originally include me. So, all I could do was hope and pray that we'd be OK.

**Don't worry, Lee, you'll live to see your crush again. Please, guys, review!**


	12. Chapter 11: Time Up

**Next comes...why am I bothering? You know I'll just say "Let's continue!" That said, let's continue! Thank you for reviewing, TaylorRiley17, XxRebel WriterxX, dream lighting, Guest and grapejuice101!**

"Puppet ruler want a cracker? Here's your cracker! Shove them down your throat! Here, have lots!"

If I hadn't been in chains, I would've ran across, throttled Iago just so he would shut up, and then freed the Sultan from the marionette strings and the torture the parrot was inflicting on him. Sure, the Sultan had probably shoved crackers at Iago plenty of times, but he meant well, which Iago certainly didn't.

As it was, I glared daggers at both Jafar and Iago.

"Stop it!" Jasmine begged, who also had her hands chained and was wearing the red outfit from my memory. "Jafar, leave him alone!" Her hair was up in a high ponytail instead of her usual double-tied one.

I was also stuck in blood red, although while Jasmine's outfit was like her old tank top and hareem pants (although her top showed more of her midriff and was strapless), I was wearing a top like hers but with a skirt. My hair was just like Jasmine's, but unlike her, I couldn't pull the look off. Jafar treated us both like pretty little ornaments. Jasmine was usually having to hand him fruits, while I had to bring the wine, while muttering curses under my breath.

"It pains me to see both of you reduced to this." Jafar said emotionlessly as he took a bite out of the apple Jasmine was holding. "Especially you, Jasmine. A beautiful desert bloom such as yourself should be on the arm of the most powerful man in the world." He made her chains disappear and created a crown. "What do you say, my dear? Why, with you as my queen-"

"Never!" Jasmine tossed the wine in his face.

Jafar threw her to the ground. "I'll teach you some respect – but that's for later." He turned to me, making my chains disappear too. He held the crown out to me. "You might not be as lovely as the Princess, but you could so easily be mine too. Why don't you-"

"Ahem." I cut him off. "May I answer your question...through song!"

A Taylor Swift song had floated into my head, and I couldn't resist singing it. "_I hate that stupid old pick-up truck you never let me drive,_

_You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying_

_Watch me strike a match on all my wasted time_

_As far as I'm concerned, you're just another picture to burn!" _I sang defiantly. I smiled sweetly at Jafar and finished. "In case that didn't make it clear, Taylor Swift told me that I should tell you no. You're a jerk. And you're a pedo. Jasmine isn't yet sixteen, and I'm only seventeen! How old are you, like, fifty?"

I ended up joining Jasmine on the floor. Jafar turned to look at Genie. "I have decided to make my final wish. I wish for Princess Jasmine and Cleo to both fall desperately in love with me."

Jasmine gasped in fear, but I grinned and winked at her, remembering the rules.

Genie tried to tell Jafar, but the response was "Don't talk back to me, you big blue lout!" He said more, but I didn't hear the rest.

Al and Abu were at the back of the castle. Both Jasmine and I had to keep the smiles off our faces. Then Jasmine's eyes lit up. "Watch this." she whispered to me, standing and picking up the crown. "Jafar." she called seductively. "I never realized how incredibly handsome you are." She placed the crown on her head.

I realized what she was doing – distracting Jafar, and I had to smile, carefully edging away. Genie's mouth dropped open comically. Jafar smirked. "That's better." he said, walking towards Jasmine. I stopped concentrating, and made a light-footed run to Al.

Genie noticed him too. "Al!" he exclaimed, but we both shushed him. He joined us at the back of the room. "Kids, you know, I can't help you. I work for Senor Psychopath now." His head momentarily turned into Jafar's. "What are you gonna do?"

Al shushed him again. "Hey, I'm a street rat, remember? I'll improvise." He turned to me. "By the way, Lee, you look pretty good in that outfit."

I blushed, half embarrassed and half flattered. "I hate the outfit." I muttered. "Jafar made me wear it."

But this wasn't really the time to talk about what I was wearing. Jasmine was still distracting Jafar for all she was worth, and once Abu had shut up Iago, we should have been home free.

Al had just reached the lamp when Abu and Iago's fighting knocked over a goblet, and Jasmine made the hugest sacrifice I'd ever seen to stop Jafar from seeing us.

She kissed him. I couldn't believe I was seeing it, but she did it. Al's eyes widened. I heard Abu gag, and I just blinked.

"That was-" Jafar began, but then he turned around. He'd seen Al's reflection in Jasmine's crown. I waited for the line.

"You!" He zapped Al with his staff. "How many times do I have to kill you, boy?"

Both Jasmine and I ran at Jafar and pulled on the staff, but we were both hurled to the ground. Al tried his luck next, yelling at us "Get the lamp!"

But Jafar was too quick. He managed to get Al off the staff and aimed at us. "Ladies, your time is up!" We were both trapped in an hourglass. And one where the sand was falling in a steady stream.

We couldn't hear anything outside (well, not actual words, at least), but we could see. Jafar clearly had the upper hand.

"This doesn't look good." I whispered. "I can't believe I never told Al my biggest secret..." The sand was up to our waist.

Jasmine reached past the sand and clasped my hand in comfort. "Do you want to tell me?" she asked softly.

I looked at my friend's face. She really was a friend, by this time, truly. But she loved Al, just as much as I did, maybe more.

"Jasmine," I whispered. "I know you love Al. And he loves you. He fell in love practically from the moment he first saw you. But what he never knew was that...I loved him long before he met you. But he's never even realized it. I was just the little sister, that whole time."

Was it just my imagination, or did Jasmine's face grow paler? "Oh, Cleo." she whispered.

"It's not important." I told her, although my heart was screaming at my head to stop lying. "He loves you. You're the one he took on that carpet ride. You're the one who he wants to marry. Not me." The sand was now covering our shoulders.

We both smashed our fists against the glass. "Aladdin!" Jasmine yelled.

"Al!" I screamed.

Al glanced at us and yelled something muffled by the glass, but he had to keep fighting the sorcerer, who had just turned into a snake. Jasmine and I gripped each others' hands, just to know that we weren't alone. But it was happening, The sand covered us completely. I couldn't breathe. My chest was about to burst and slowly, the yellow world around me turned black.

But just before that, I heard Jasmine whisper "You know that he should hear what you told me, right?"

**Well, you know what I'm really doing, right? Please, review!**


	13. Chapter 12: A Whole New Life

**Thank you for reviewing, XxRebelWriterxX, TaylorRiley17, dream lighting, Guest and grapejuice101. Let's see...what next? Oh yeah!**

"Lee? Cleo, wake up! What's happened?"

"Shouldn't she have woken up when I did? We weren't covered for that long."

"What if she suffocated completely?"

I blinked, starting to register the voices, and where I was. The first thing I saw the concerned faces of the people. Slowly, I sat up, realizing that Jafar and Iago were nowhere to be seen.

"Wh-what happened?" I said, my voice scratchy from the sand I'd accidentally swallowed. "I remember the hourglass, and Jafar as a snake..."

Jasmine smiled. "Ask him." she pointed to Al.

Al shrugged, pretending to be modest. "I just reminded him that Genie was the one who gave him the power and he seemed to think that being a genie didn't mean he had to live in a lamp and grant someone three wishes when they rub it. He made his third wish."

At that moment, everything changed. The palace went back to normal. The Sultan was Sultan again, Rajah was back to a fully-grown Bengal tiger, and Jasmine was in blue attire with her old hairstyle. I half-admired my old street-mouse clothes, glad to be showing a little less skin.

But there was still one last thing to do. Al and I would have to return to our old lives, we knew it.

"That stupid law." Jasmine sighed as she stood with Al. "This isn't fair...I love you." She gave me a sideways glance at that moment. "Although...Lee, get over here!"

"Jazz, please don't make me tell him!" I begged.

Jasmine's eyes lit up, and she smirked. "You know, if you don't tell him, I will. He deserves to know."

"I guess. This is going to be awful." I muttered, leaving. I only went far enough so I couldn't be seen, but I could hear what Jasmine was saying. She'd meant what she'd said.

"She's been in love with you for a long time, but she knows you see her as a little sister, so she's never told you. She says that she's jealous of me."

"But...why would she help me court you?" Al stuttered. "I mean, if she was so jealous."

"Don't you see it?" Jasmine said softly. "She wanted you to be happy. She sacrificed her own happiness for yours, because she knew that she'd never have a chance with you."

Al's eyes were wide, and I recognized the look on his face for a moment. It was the look he got when he was remembering something. He got that look the first time I asked him about his past, and he told me about his family. "When I look back...I can see it. How could I have been so blind? She must have been tortured for months. She _is _like a little sister to me, and I love her dearly in that way. But how can I tell her all of this?"

I couldn't listen to any more. Even though I'd known that Al wouldn't ever be mine, him saying it out loud, that he only loved me in a sibling-type way, made my already broken heart feel like it would never heal again. I couldn't face the "let's be friends" conversation at that time. I just couldn't. So I looked around, found the lamp, whispered to Genie my last wish – for his freedom (it wasn't fair to break the promise, really), then dropped the lamp and ran to my room to cry for the first time in years.

I didn't know how long it would take for me to deal with these things, but I looked up. It was sunset, and I could see the first star.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this again." I muttered, then I sang the wishing star song again, and then whispered "I wish I knew why this world was so familiar to me."

I didn't expect anything more to happen. But I should have learned that wishing on stars had consequences. A laptop appeared in front of me of all things. There was no way to charge it in these times, but it was working, and Windows Media Player was on there. The screen had a strangely familiar scene with strangely familiar music playing.

Without realizing it, I was suddenly singing words that seemed to go with the tune: "_Arabian nights...like Arabian days...more often than not, are hotter than hot, in a lot of good ways!"_

A lamp, that looked suspiciously like Genie's, sent out a puff of smoke which gave me the menu. I raised my eyebrows, but played the movie anyway. Judging by the opening logo, it was a Disney movie. What did that have to do with this world, though?

It started with a red background, then in a puff of pink smoke, golden words spelling _Aladdin _appeared. I raised my eyebrows, trying to work out if this meant what I thought it meant. I had no memory of the opening sequence, or the merchant that was in it, but I recognized the song he sang, supposedly called _Arabian Nights. _He was very funny, especially after the song, when he spoke straight to the audience. "Ah, salaam and good evening to you, worthy friend. Please, please come closer..." The camera pressed up against him. "Too close, a little too close." The camera pulled back. Anyway, he finally pulled out Genie's lamp and started talking about it having "changed the course of a young man's life. A young man, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed...a diamond in the rough. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale?" And this was where the movie started. I watched as Jafar and Iago witnessed a man dying because they weren't the right person to go into the Cave Of Wonders. I still wondered, how had Jafar known that me and Al were the right ones?

The next scene was one I knew, but in this case, I wasn't there.

"Stop, thief! I'll have your hand for a trophy, street rat!" Razoul was yelling as Al ran from them, clutching the (stolen) loaf of bread we gave to younger street kids the day we couldn't help singing. That description of him the merchant had given..."a diamond in the rough"...I realized it was perfect as I continued to watch and remember.

"All this for a loaf of bread?" Al questioned, and the scene played out as it would've if I hadn't been there.

I watched all I remembered of that day, including that little verse Al sang as we walked home. The next scene was set in the palace, with the Sultan and that stupid flashy prince, as he stalked out of the palace, muttering "Good luck marrying her off!"

The film then introduced the audience to Jasmine. It was true that my wishing star wish would have bore resemblance to what hers would have been. She wanted a life and friends too. She actually said "I've never done a thing on my own. I've never had any real friends...except you, Rajah."

Things were starting to become familiar now. When the Sultan said "Jasmine, you're a princess," I was able to chant along with her next line.

"Then maybe I don't want to _be _a princess anymore."

Most of the film wasn't interesting enough to hold all of my attention, since I'd seen the majority of it as an eyewitness. I did see how Jafar found out in his hourglass, about me and Al. But in this movie, Al was the one to rub the lamp and it was amusing to watch Genie interacting with him. "Hello, Aladdin, nice to have you on the show. Can we call you Al, or maybe just Din, or how about Laddi?"

I also realized that the reason why Jafar had hated us so much before he found out who we really were was because he had been planning to become Sultan by hypnotizing the Sultan into ordering Jasmine to marry Jafar himself. Then he'd become the Sultan, and at Iago's suggestion "We drop Papa-in-law, and the little woman off a cliff."

It was amusing to watch Jafar struggling to hypnotize the Sultan with his staff at this point, too. The Sultan repeated his orders "I will order the princess to..." Then he stopped. "But you're so old!" That made me giggle.

"The princess will marry me!" hissed Jafar. But the Sultan was snapped out of it by our parade! I smiled at this, although it wasn't erasing my heartbreak (not that watching everything that had happened when Al and Jasmine met had helped at all).

The scene when Al took Jasmine on the carpet ride was when things finally fell into place. So I _was_ sent to a different world – a world created by Disney. The song they sang, "A Whole New World", was the missing puzzle piece.

I continued to watch. I saw what happened to Al when Jafar sent him flying, and I got to hear what Jafar and Al had said while Jasmine and I were trapped in the hourglass, as well as Genie's cheerleading when Jafar was a snake. "Ricken, rockin, rackem, rake, stick that sword into that snake!"

"You stay out of this!" the Jafar snake hissed.

Genie changed. "Jafar, Jafar, he's our man, if he can't do it, – GREAT!"

And of course, I got to see both what was happening now and exactly what Al had said to get Jafar to make that last wish, talking about how Genie gave him the power.

"Al, what are you talking about, why are you bringing me into this?" Genie was asking.

"Face it, Jafar!" Al yelled. "You're still just second best!"

Etc, etc. You know what was happening. Also, I saw what had just happened, with Genie getting ready to leave, and the Sultan changing the laws so Jasmine could marry anyone she wanted. But as the last scene, when Al and Jasmine were all dressed up and on Carpet, singing, I heard the same two voices outside my window.

"_A whole new world..." _Al sang.

"_A whole new life..." _Jasmine sang.

"_For you and me." _They chorused.

I watched the last scene on DVD, as golden words spelled out _The End _and the moon turned around to laugh (no, it had a face behind it, looking like a certain blue guy). Then Genie (the real one) appeared on the screen. "Made ya look." Suddenly, the laptop disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving me with an explanation of this world. I had seen the movie _Aladdin, _years ago, when I was little, which is why I only remembered a little of it. But Al, Jasmine, Jafar, Abu, Genie...they were all a product of Disney!

But the movie had left my head a lot clearer. I decided that what I'd have to do, to get everything out of the way, was to write a letter to Al, so we wouldn't have to have the super-awkward conversation. Just short.

_Dear Al,_

_Now you know how I felt about you. Don't worry, I know exactly what your feelings are. You love Jasmine, and I hope the two of you will be happy. Scratch that, I'm sure you'll live happily ever after, and I'd be pleased to have Jazz as a sister-in-law._

_But I won't be here. I'm going away from the palace, and I won't be coming back. I need to leave, to let you get on without any regrets on my part. You can forget me, it's OK. But I owe you one more explanation._

_I don't come from Agrabah, it's true. But, while this may sound crazy, I come from an entirely different world, where you and everyone else are a movie – moving picture –, the title being your name. It's basically from the day we gave the bread to those younger kids to now, when you and Jasmine kissed on Carpet and flew off into the night. I've seen it, although I didn't realize it until now. But by the time you get this, I'll be gone._

_Just be happy, that's all I ask of you. I know that you will be, with Jasmine._

_Love always,_

_Cleo._

**Awww, I nearly cried while writing this! Poor Cleo! Now what do you think should come next?**

**Also, as a HUGE favour, would any Harry Potter fans out there read my story "Hyper At Hogwarts - Year 1"? It might start off a little bit cliche, but I have big plans for it.**


	14. Chapter 13: Sequel Sabotage

**OK, this chapter won't all be in Cleo's POV. Thanks for your review, TaylorRiley17, dream lighting, XxRebelWriterxX, grapejuice101, rollingbell, Idara, Guest and Ginga No Yousei.**

ALADDIN'S POV

I didn't find Lee's letter until late into the night. I'd recognized the signs which showed she wasn't ready to talk, and had gone on another carpet ride with Jasmine as a celebration for our being engaged. I knew Lee would talk to me when she was ready. I couldn't wait to get the awkward conversation out of the way.

So while I was actually a bit relieved to get the conversation finished in the letter, I couldn't believe it. Lee had been like my little sister for the last six months, and now she was gone.

The last part of the letter was also...strange. She was saying that she came from a world where everything that had just happened was in a...movie, whatever that was. Well, it sounded like it depicted scenes from our lives, like a historical play.

But I didn't care about that. I cared about my adopted sister. Where had she gone? Would she be OK? She said "I'm sure you'll live happily ever after," and she was right that Jasmine was all I looked for in a girl. She was kind, fiesty, daring, rebellious and it didn't hurt that she was beautiful with it. But my happily-ever-after wouldn't be complete without my family in it – and no matter what our genes said, Lee was part of my family. She was the one who made it possible for me to be with Jasmine, and yet, I could see her envy and bitterness when I looked back. She had muttered about how lucky Jasmine was, and had later yelled at me because she thought something I'd said suggested that I didn't count her as someone. And when I'd confronted her, she'd said I'd figured out how she felt for the past six months...

She _did _love me. That was why she'd left, because she felt that she couldn't stay if she had to see me with Jasmine.

I showed Jasmine the letter, knowing that if Lee had been here, she wouldn't have minded. They'd become close. Jasmine simply looked thoughtful. "I want her to come back," she said. "But how can we do that without hurting her? It sounds like it's painful just watching us."

"More importantly, where did she go?" I wondered out loud.

"She could have been gone for a long time now." Jasmine said quietly. "Anyway, she's _your _sister, kind of. Where do you think she would've gone?"

I thought about it. Whenever Lee was in a really negative mood, she usually just ran. She'd usually come back on her own time, and whenever I'd asked where she'd been, she'd just say "Nowhere. Don't ask."

"We'd probably have to search the whole of Agrabah to find her." I finally said. "She used to run off somewhere when she was angry or sad or something, but she wouldn't tell me where, and I wasn't going to follow her when she didn't want me around. I think she just used to wander around."

Jasmine thought about this and then suddenly exclaimed "Wait! What about the place you used to live in?"

CLEO'S POV

I went back to the place where Al and I lived before everything happened. It felt kind of nice to be back there. I didn't need to worry about Al being in love with someone else, or having to act like royalty, or the fact that the beautiful girl that captured the guy I loved turned out to be sweet but fiesty, a bit spoilt but really nice.

But I didn't know if I could live here on my own. My overwhelming feeling was that I wanted to be alone, and even if I did stay here, I was sure to be found. I only stayed there during the night, and then ran, not looking where I was going, thinking.

I almost wished this was the movie with me, too. Then there would be no "what happened next", no anything. Unless there was a crappy sequel...

I skidded to a stop. There WAS a sequel, and what was more, I had a faint memory of that, too. Now that I'd seen the first movie and remembered, my memories of the sequel were coming back. I remembered Jafar coming back, but he was a genie. Some pudgy little thief who rubbed Jafar's lamp and Jafar being coloured so he looked sickly pale. The quotes about genies not being able to kill and "You'd be surprised what you can live through". And Iago deciding to turn his back on Jafar and working with Al, Jasmine, and everyone else.

I thought about this. Tried to remember where to go, what to do.

For once, my luck was good, and not only was I able to retrace my steps, but the world sped up time so the sequel was starting the next morning, and the minute I stepped into the desert, a black lamp, held by a parrot, was pulled up. I crept closer, trying to listen to what Iago was saying now. I could hear his usual indistinct yelling.

Suddenly, a clear memory was coming to me. A musical number. Sang by the parrot. Yes...here it was.

"_That's it, I've had it, I hate to be dramatic,_

_But it's time for me to fly the -" _As Iago began to sing, I ran forward and grabbed him by the throat.

"OK, you little freak. Tell me how you and Jafar got out of the Cave of Wonders." I demanded.

Iago barely looked at me. "Why should I tell you, street mouse?"

I glared at him. "Try the sister of Princess Jasmine's fiance." Even if I wasn't going to be there with him, Al was still going to get married to Jasmine, right? I figured that since they weren't married in this movie, the clothes they were wearing at the end of the movie were used to show their official engagement. "Anyway," I continued, "Do not drop the lamp into the well. Do not try to gain the good guys' friendship without me. And most of all, do NOT sing. It makes people's ears bleed."

I saw how it was going to be. I was going to have to go back to the palace and get things to the point where that fat thief didn't find Jafar's lamp and let him loose. We'd have to just keep the lamp and destroy it.

I didn't like it, but I'd have to face Al again after all.

**Well, Cleo's going back. What do you think? Review!**


	15. Chapter 14: Back At The Palace

**So, now we'll continue. Thanks for reviewing, TaylorRiley17 and XxRebelWriterxX.**

I had to face Al earlier than I thought. Well, I didn't really. Iago decided to humour me by flying alongside as I walked through the market.

"So if your brother's living in the palace, why are you still on the streets?" he asked.

"Because I choose to be." I muttered. "Shut up, you stupid parrot."

"Who are you telling to shut up, street mouse?"

"You, idiot."

We didn't get to the palace, of course. The door was closed to outsiders. I would need Carpet if I wanted to get in, and if I remembered right, Al was using Carpet for transportation at this point. I'd have to hide out in the streets for a couple hours before Al came out. Maybe I'd have to steal something, just to survive.

I didn't, though. Iago tried, but the shopkeeper wasn't taking any shit from some stupid parrot.

I also kept a firm grip on Iago. He wasn't going to get away from me.

OK, that was until he saw Al coming out of the palace and broke away, deciding to try to play him for sympathy. I wasn't ready to face Al yet, so I hovered in the background, hiding, trying to look invisible.

When Al didn't fall for Iago's act, Iago moved on to Plan B and started insisting that Jafar had used his hypnosis snake staff. I watched as the parrot stayed out of reach, and then flew around a corner and bumped into that thief that I remembered. Al also bumped into him.

"You...look familiar." said the thief.

At this point, he had his men around him, who weren't there when he started working with Jafar, as I remember. "It's Aladdin." they chorused in bored tones.

"Well, it is?" began the thief, and then quickly said "I knew that." He gave orders to attack him, as well as Abu (who, as always, was there) and Iago, who he misjudged.

"Time I jumped in." I muttered, and pulled my knife out of my street-mouse clothes, ready to defend them, and myself if necessary. Al had some trouble with the three minions, so I ran up behind them and kicked one in the right place, ready to knife him if I had to. Al saw me, but the distraction was definitely not a good thing, as the other two were advancing on him. But it was Iago who dropped the plant that got all of them knocked out for a moment.

"And I got more where that came from!" Iago hollered. I put the knife back in my pocket.

"Shut the beak, parrot!" I yelled as he flew down onto a stall. "Yeah, yeah, we know, you saved us all. You get a fair trial, I suppose." I grabbed him with one hand, again, firmly.

Al looked back at me, and gave an awkward smile. "Couldn't have put it better, Lee."

I returned the smile. "Well, OK, anyway, I just wanted to give you this." I gave him Jafar's lamp. "He got out of the Cave of Wonders, and Iago's decided to drop him as a partner. You have to destroy the lamp. You can ask Genie, when he gets back. Anyway, I'll leave you to-" I was almost out of there, but Al's hand closed around my wrist.

"Lee, you're not leaving? Come back to the palace. You can't just stay on the streets."

"Why not?" I demanded. "You'd been living alone on the streets for years before we met."

"And I know how painful it is. Come on, please. Jasmine will be happy I found you, too."

I sighed. I wasn't going to be able to refuse this one. "And you?" I whispered.

"I missed you, Lee." Al said. I read the honesty in his brown eyes. "Running away isn't going to solve anything. We've got to talk. Come on."

Iago wasn't pleased to be locked in a cage back at the palace. Al said he'd talk to the Sultan first.

"Are you kidding?" Iago screeched. "He hates me! And what about the princess?"

"I'll just have to make sure Jasmine doesn't see you until I've gotten her prepared."

"Gotten me prepared for what?"

I turned to see Jasmine. She was just as pretty as always. She gave a gasp when she saw me and immediately hugged me.

"Can't...breathe!" I gasped out.

Jasmine let me go. "Oh. Sorry." She turned to Al. "Is that what you were talking about?"

"Um...yes." Al lied.

Jasmine still seemed suspicious of him, as she should have been. "You aren't hiding anything from me, are you? No more secrets?"

"Just tell her!" I insisted. "If he escapes, you don't want to see it."

Al gave a sigh. "Lee, I can't."

Jasmine still wanted to know. "What are you two talking about?"

I sighed too. "OK, OK. Jazz, I'm not going to ask you if you remember Iago's unwavering loyalty to Jafar, because you do. Thing is, Iago was in the marketplace today, and some thugs came along and started beating up on Al. Iago saved his life by dropping a plant on the leader's head, and he says that Jafar used him too, with the snake staff. I personally don't think it's true, but if Jafar stays in the lamp, I think it'll be OK to give Iago a fair trial. And he is in this cage!" I stepped back with a flourish.

Jasmine's face was becoming darker with shock and a bit of anger mixed in.

Iago smiled embarrassedly at her and said, "Uh...hi, Princess."

Jasmine scowled at him. "Just watch your step, and keep out of my way." She turned to Al. "Maybe he saved you, but I still don't trust him. Just make sure he doesn't try anything.

"And we need to destroy the Lamp-" I began, but I was stopped by a wave in the fountain, with a certain blue figure surfing it.

Said figure appeared next to us and announced "He's big, he's blue, he's BACK!"

I cringed. "Is it just me, or have you been taking lessons to imitate Homer Simpson?" I asked. I did remember something about Genie's voice actor changing, and I could definitely hear a bit of Homer.

I stood back to watch a couple of his gags (remembering every single one from the first movie), before I went up and said hi.

"Hang on!" Genie announced. "I got souvenirs for everyone!" He gave Al a Mexican hat, Jasmine a statue, and me a Russian doll, the kind that opens with a bunch of little dolls inside.

I could sense the song sequence when Genie was saying "Agrabah has something that no other place in the world has." Then he turned into a firework. "YOU GUYS!"

I pretty much watched most of the song, only singing to harmonize one line with Jasmine. Then it was time to address the fact that I still had Jafar's lamp.

**OK, lamp conversation coming up. Please review!**

**Also, I am NOT going to be doing "King Of Thieves", but I want to include a storyline from the TV series. I'll give you a hint: A street girl and a bit of sand. Now review and tell me what you think!**


	16. Chapter 15: Aladdin's Fangirls

**There. Now I'll continue. Thanks for reviewing, Idara, XxRebelWriterxX, TaylorRiley17, and rollingbell.**

"Um, Genie?" I said. "Sorry to break up the post-vacation happy time, but we've got a problem." I brought out the Lamp. "I found this in the desert. Iago was arguing with Jafar, and now they've broken a partnership. It looks like the only way to get rid of Jafar is to destroy this lamp. I was going to ask you how."

Just a few sentences were what averted the disaster of the film. And if the Lamp wasn't there for the thief to find, then his minions would be killing him off, Iago wouldn't betray us, and there was only one problem left before Al and Jasmine got married – me.

Well, that's what I thought. But I didn't count on what I figured was a Disney Channel TV series. Weird stuff happened. Actually, the weirdest thing was when Abu got kidnapped, and this guy called Hercules turned up and said Al had kidnapped _his _best friend. I recognized Hercules from another Disney movie, actually – what was supposed to be his story but was pretty much just Superman again.

But before that, Al and I had to talk alone.

"I know what this is about." I said. "You love Jasmine. You see me as a sister. That's it. Done."

"But Lee, I still care about you." Al said. "Just because Jasmine's my girlfriend, it doesn't mean you don't matter to me."

"I know." I said. "But still..."

"What I don't understand is how you could have kept it a secret all these years. If I'd known, you would have been able to get over it and move on."

I sighed. "That's why I didn't tell you. I knew you didn't feel the same way."

"Cleo..." I knew Al was serious when he used my real name. "You're not going to just walk out again, are you? You can't do that to me. Blood or not, you're still my sister. You're going to be Jasmine's sister-in-law. Please, stay."

This made me sigh again. I knew how this was going to work out. I was going to stay with the group, I was going to enjoy it, and maybe, in time, I'd get over Al.

I think it was around that time I found out I wasn't the only girl to go through this. There was more than one girl all over Al. The first time happened when we were at the seaside, and Jasmine asked Al if he'd dated any other girls before her, and without thinking, he'd admitted "Tons."

Jasmine glared at him, and I'd chimed in "But it was only one date, so I don't think they count."

That was the day some siren mermaid girl tried to trade places with Jasmine. She was pretty powerful, but she would've gotten rid of me and Genie if she could, so we had to get her back into the water where she belonged, to get Jasmine out.

But I'm not thinking about her. We were just out walking one day – well, Jasmine wanted to get some material to make into new clothes for Al and me. We found mine pretty quickly, because the merchants would do anything for pretty girls (me and Jasmine were both wearing brown outfits like the one she wore when Al and I first met her). But the merchants were less happy to accommodate Al, because most of the time, he still wore his street-boy clothes. I think that was because Jasmine liked his six-pack and his vest left it in view, although neither of them said so. Sometimes I wondered if they were sneaking into each others' rooms at night.

Anyway, the merchant was grudgingly showing us the silks, while the animals were mocking Al.

"Oh, Aladdin, you'll be the prettiest boy in Agrabah!" Iago teased.

Abu strutted around as if he was a gay guy, swinging his tail. But at that moment, a dark-haired dark-skinned girl of about my age ran past, with a bunch of guards after her. She was as good at confusing them as Al was, back in the day.

She obviously caught Al's eye. "Hey, she's pretty good."

In the end, all of us followed her, just before I remembered Jasmine, who was still looking through the silks.

The girl was caught just as she started climbing a rope up from a dead end.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Al called.

"She is a thief!" Razoul exclaimed, showing us the melon she'd stolen.

I knew this was the time to act like when we rescued Jasmine. Al sighed. "Poor Razoul. You really don't recognize her, do you?"

"Should I?" Razoul stuttered.

"You certainly should!" the girl piped up. "I'm...I'm.."

"The Royal Fruit Inspector!" I said quickly. I know it was a stupid thing to say, but hey, I'm not proud. It was the only excuse that came to mind.

Abu did have to sneak the girl a badge from one of the guards' pockets to for the girl to "prove" my claim, but it worked, and the guards left.

"You saved me." murmured the girl. "No one ever did something like that for me before."

"Force of habit." Al explained.

"We've had trouble with Razoul before, and he still hates us." I added.

I could see the girl's face, and I recognized her expression. As Al backed away from her, she was coming closer, and her expression was all goofy and dreamy. I'd seen it on my own face so many times before. But Al, as usual, didn't get it, and just said quickly "Bye" before running away, with the rest of us.

"My name is Sadira!" the girl called.

"Uh..I'm Aladdin!" Al called back. "See ya!"

I hung back to call "And I'm Cleo! Most people call me Lee!" although I knew she was only interested in Al.

Genie started advising Al about how to deal with Jasmine when they finally found her.

"Great!" Iago exclaimed. "You're gonna take advice from a guy who hasn't had a date in ten thousand years!"

"Shut up!" I snapped. "Let him have some fun." But as Genie talked, I could see Sadira out of the corner of my eye. She was trying to get Al's attention. Finally, she came up straight and walked alongside. "Hi, Aladdin! Whatcha doing?"

"Oh." Al said. "Hi...um..."

"Sadira." she supplied.

"We're looking for someone." I supplied.

"Oh, really?" said Sadira. "I know a lot of people, can I help?"

"Sure." Al said. "We're looking for my girlfriend."

"Oh." I saw Sadira's eyes darken. She glanced up, pretending not to be depressed. "So, she's not your girlfriend?" She gestured to me.

Al laughed. "No, she's my sister."

Jasmine seemed happy enough to just show off the material she'd found when we finally found her, and when we introduced her to Sadira, she happily greeted her. Sadira herself was trying not to look heartbroken.

Jasmine also accidentally busted the lie we'd made up for Sadira, making her have to make a break for it.

"Stop, thief!" Razoul yelled. He turned to us and said, "And this time, you two stay out of it."

I scowled, and did exactly what Sadira had done to get away – kicked him in the crotch, then use my own agility to get past the guards and to Sadira. I saw her run into an alleyway, and into a tunnel, and I followed, thinking I could help. After all, I'd stood in Sadira's shoes. I knew what it was like to fall in love with someone like Al and know I would never have him.

"Terrific." Sadira muttered. "It's not enough that he has a girlfriend. She's gotta be a rich, beautiful princess."

"Sadira?" I ventured softly.

She jumped, and then turned around. She glared at me. "What are you doing here?"

I held my hands up. "Hey, no need to bite my head off. I wasn't the one chasing you around the marketplace. But I do happen to know exactly what you're going through."

"How would you know?" muttered Sadira. "You've never fallen for a guy who has a girlfriend. And not just any girlfriend...a princess."

I laughed humourlessly. "I'm not Al's real sister." I admitted. "We just met on the streets last year. But ever since I turned seventeen, I've been in love with Al. "

Sadira sighed. "Well, at least he pays attention to you." A section of sand that she was standing on broke under her weight, and she suddenly fell through, screaming. I jumped. But it was a long way to fall, and I didn't land on my feet. We were lucky not to break anything. And then the brick broke too and we landed on a bunch of sand.

A light came up and a disembodied voice came. "Mortals, tremble in fear! You have entered the inner sanctum of the all powerful witches of the sand!" There was more, but when Sadira said the witches disappeared, it turned out that a worm had been talking, and it was none too pleased to know his mistresses were gone.

Sadira seemed to have forgotten about me. She decided to read the scrolls and do spells. "From now on, things are going to go my way. Starting with Aladdin."

"Don't do it, Sadira!" I pleaded. "You don't know what this magic will do. And you can't make someone fall in love with you. Trust me. I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

But she wouldn't listen to me. She smiled slyly at me and said "Don't you want to have Aladdin too? Why don't you help me? I can always share. It's just Jasmine that I need out of the way."

I sighed. Maybe I could persuade her while letting her think we were working together, so I agreed.

But it wasn't me that told her to make a sand monster that would obey her as long as she had the witches' amulet. The monster wanted to smash stuff, and wasn't pleased when Sadira started talking about 'this really cute guy'. She made a sand image of Jasmine so the sand monster would know who to take, and the monster was happy to do the work.

**Cleo's in deep trouble when she's working with an obsessive girl! Please review!**


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